Your Average Wolfdog
by JustASteveGut
Summary: What if the Diphtheria outbreak never happened? What if the serum run never had to happen? How will this affect Balto? The rating might change.
1. introduction

A/N: okay, this was originally gonna be a collab, but I wanna see how badly I can fail at writing such a big project solo. I'm normally pretty bad with without having a stroke. Now, let's see how well I can do with this thing.

A red and white siberian husky with an orange bandanna wrapped around her neck sat perched on a window sill looking into Nome's general hospital. The dog was watching her owner's young daughter, Rosy receive an examination as she had been coughing a lot lately and a recent outbreak of Diphtheria was currently spreading rapidly through the small Alaskan town. The dog feared the worst of course, and she silently prayed the young girl only contracted a cold.

Across town a young brown and tan wolf dog hybrid walked with his head hung low and yellow eyes open wide and on high alert for any approaching threats. The wolf dog stopped at a puddle of melted snow and examined his appearance. He found that his fur seemed too scruffy for an occasion like this and he proceeded to smooth down some of his head fur but to no avail. With a sigh, the wolf dog turned his attention back to the path in front of him and continued his short journey to the wooden building labeled 'hospital' down the street.

It didn't take the wolf dog long to reach his destination. As he approached the building, he spotted the figure of the red husky sitting at the window. The wolf dog smiled happily and approached her slowly.

"Jenna?" The wolf dog asked in a high shrill voice. Quickly, with a small 'hmph' and clearing of his throat the wolf dog repeated; this time in a much deeper more 'manly' sounding voice. "Jenna."

The husky turned quickly; startled as she had not noticed the wolf dog approach her. Upon seeing who it was, she relaxed and looked back towards the window. "Balto, hi." she said in a hushed tone.

Balto smiled and continued. "Just a shot in the dark but… I was wondering if you wanted to.. go chase a few sticks by moonlight." He chuckled.

Jenna smiled and glanced back and forth between looking into the room and the wolf dog. After turning her attention back to the hybrid again, she spoke. "I would like that." She then looked back to the room. "Once I'm sure Rosy's alright."

Balto walked closer to the husky and reared up on his hind legs to peer in as well alongside her. Rosy was currently having her throat examined and was told to cough a couple of times for the doctor. The pair of dogs continued to watch as the doctor smiled and looked towards the girl's parents who to shared happy smiles.

Balto, confused, turned his attention to the husky beside him. "It looks like they were really concerned about this.." He trailed off slightly at the end.

Jenna as well smiled and looked to the hybrid. "Diphtheria's been going around. We were worried she might've contracted it but it looks like she's just got a cold or something.. Thank goodness." She stated.

Balto liked Rosy. She was the only human in town that would treat him kindly and thus felt a connection to her, almost as her own illegitimate pet. He then smiled back at Jenna. Her eyes glittering from the gentle glow of the lamp light shining through the window into her brown irises. "I'm glad there's nothing to worry about then." He said kindly.

Jenna nodded in agreement and jumped down from the window sill; turning her attention to Balto as he did the same and walked up beside her. "Lead the way." She said.

Balto began leading them East down Front Street towards the edge of town. As they walked, not much was said between them. Jenna had always been friendly with the hybrid but she really didn't know much about him and vise versa. Instead of talking, Jenna simply followed closely behind and mentally compared the wolf dog to her other admirer, Steele.

Unlike Balto, Steele walked with his head high and chest puffed out slightly. He would wear a smile on his face as he walked and his tail was always curled high above his back. Whenever Jenna would walk beside him, she would feel small and sometimes crowded if he decided to walk as close as possible to her. Balto did none of this. The hybrid instead chose to keep his head more straight and casual with his tail lazily swaying behind him. His eyes would also look around more than Steele's and he always seemed to be thinking about something.

Without a doubt, Jenna felt much more comfortable walking with Balto. He allowed her personal space and wouldn't stare at her the way Steele did sometimes. Though the two were currently talking very little, Jenna did not feel uncomfortable about it as the silence appeared to come more from choice rather than lack of icebreakers.

Finally, Balto stopped a short ways off from the buildings where the road seemed narrower and less kept and sat near the rocks that separated the beach from the rest of the surrounding area. He looked over to Jenna who took a seat at his left. "I thought maybe we would walk on the beach but it looks like high tide. We can just stay here and talk though if.. That's ok with you." He said breaking eye contact a few times to look to his sides or down at the ground.

Jenna gazed at the hybrid, noted the high water line and nodded in agreement. "I think that's a fine idea, Balto."

"Great!" Balto responded cheerfully.

The pair then spent some time to chat and get to know one another. Balto even began to crack a few jokes here and there as he grew increasingly comfortable. Jenna as well began joking a bit and explaining more of herself to the hybrid to which he listened intently fascinated. Jenna was liking Balto. He listened to her and didn't ever attempt to talk over her or when he did accidentally, he would apologize and allow her the floor to speak. This was such a different experience than Jenna was used to with Steele.

Though Jenna had only accepted one date from the champion husky, he would regularly chat her up in the boiler room and old mill when she was there with her friends and it would always go the same way. Steele would of course spend most of the time telling her about himself and trying to impress her as much he could. Truth be told, Jenna did think his feelings for her were in fact genuine but because of his massive ego and condescending nature towards those he didn't respect she just couldn't bring herself to go steady with him.

Not far from where Balto and Jenna sat talking, an ominous figure stalked from within the tall grass and snow across the road in the large open field that surrounded the town. The figure watched; intently listening to their conversation with his super sensitive hearing and his bright blue eyes focused like camera lenses on the pair's movements and mannerisms.

"Oh, Bingo that right there just won't do…" the figure thought as he contemplated his next move.

**_This chapter was edited by steelfan, and they did an amazing job on it, so hopefully this new collab can do tjis stort some actual justic(if you want steelfan to edit the rest, and if they want to)._**


	2. Chapter 1

**_Oh wow, 4 reveiws on the first chapter. Lemme address one here. One of the guest who reveiwed asked who I was going to collab with, before deciding not to. The big one was Kodiwolf123, but I wanted it to be a massive collab with people like IcyK, Kodiwolf321, Titanflame, and me. I only had contact with Kodiwolf, he thougght this story idea would be cool, ut I dcided to just go alone to test myself, and improve a heck of alot more than I would with doing a collab. Oh yeah, sorry not posting a new chapter to this sooner, I hhad state testing. Enough of my dumb crap, and let's do this! Now I am collabing with Steelefan._**

Balto was stabbed in the eye by the flash of the sun rising, a sign the day has begun, and he was going to spend his day with Jenna. The two have begun dating only a couple of weeks ago. Normally Balto would want to start the day by digging through the trash and scrap bin, and being the town's outcast, but today he wanted to follow Jenna and her family into the forest. Jenna has told him about this day a week earlier. The wolfdog got out from underneath his blanket, walking past a totem pole, his marker for a shortcut to his girlfriend's house, began going through the alley inorder to not be chased off by who ever he came across, occaasionally ducking behind trash cans whenever he heard a passerby's footsteps, and eventually he reached Jenna's home, and waited underneath the stair case.

Jenna was laying her head in Rosy's lap, who was sitting on the couch, while the girl's parents prepare the picnic basket. The two were happy about going on a picnic, but it was always preparing the picnic was always the boring part, having to wait upwards of thirty minutes, and it was very rare in the small town for a day warm enough for a picnic. Jenna began sleepping iin Rosy's lap, as the small child waited for the picnic basket to be ready, "alright, let's go!" Called Rosy's father after tucking a revolver in his pocket, who was well aware of what dagers still lied in the small country's wilderness. The two got up within an instant, Jenna barked a couple of times out of sheer excitement, and the two of them followed the girl's parents out the door.

Balto heard the wooden boards of the porch he was under creak, while also hearing paws and boots walking on it he knew he should continue to lie low until the he was out of earshot of the family, but could still keep an eye on them "no point in trying too follow them up close, or I'll be kicked at agaiin" thought the outcasr as the family walked on, completely oblivious to the wolfdog that was now following them.

Once the family was deep enough into the forest, they settled down, and laid out the picnic basket while Rosy threw a ball for Jenna. Balto was watching from the bushes while the picnic was going on. While watching he couldn't help but admire Jenna, from her slender legs, to her bandanna, she was the prettiest sight he'd ever seen.

After what seemed like an hour of a calm, peaceful picnic a roar could be heard a short distance away off in the trees. Balto knew what it was before it came out of the brush. A good sied black bear walked towards the family. Rosy's mother and father got a good glance at it, before Balto ran out from his hiding spot, and charged at the bear. This day was heading south very quickly.

**_I was gonna leave you guys with a cliff hanger, but I'm not gonna be that _kind of a guy today. Enjoy the last bit.**

Balto immediately tried to get the bear on its back, working every muscle in his body to its absolute limits. Taking the bear's leg in his jaws, and with as much for as he could strength he could muster and its feet finally gave way it, and it tumbled onto its back. The bear went crashing down, sending the Balto to land on the bear's face. Before he could react the bear threw him, head first, into a tree, knocking the wind out of him. The bear loomed over him, and got ready to finish him off. Jenna attempted to run in order to help, but Rosy held her back. The girl's father pulled out his revolver, and fired six shows at the bear, each hitting it in the back of the head. The bear fell over. The fight was over.

Rosy and Jenna ran towards the downed wolfdog to make sure he was alright. Despite the fact that the father didn't trust Balto earlier, after he saw the wolfdog risk his own life for his family, he ran towards Balto as well. After checking his chest for a heartbeat, for the father concluded Balto was only knocked out from the impact, he was also bleeding a bit out of his head, and it didn't look like the hybrid would be able to walk, as its fore leg was mangled. He picked up the wolfdog, "c'mon, let's get this dog some help, fast," and the family rushed to the vets' as fast as they could.

**Well, that was fun to write. Hopefully y'all liked it. Have a good day. Read, Reveiw, and I'll see ya in the next one. **

**This was edited a bit by JustASteveGut, and still in colaboration with Steelfan. **


	3. Chapter 2 New Member of the Family

**_An: yo, school for me is 4 weeks from being cdone, sowhen that happens chapters might come out more often._**

**_First, I wanna address what the same guest sad about me collabing with kodiwolf. Yeah, I would abslutely love collaboratinng with kodiwolf, but as of right now, I feel like I'd be holding back since I doubt my writing skills are on par with his yet, hopefully as this story goes onwards I can get a lot better.._**

**_Oh yeah, for this chapter I will give Rosy's father a name based on the name somebody gave to him in a story calleed Heritage of the Wolf AKA Tom_**

**_I'll go away now, let's get on with the story_**

The first thing Balto felt when he woke up was pain. The feeling was overwhelming to say the least; his head felt like smething rammed a sled into it, his left fore leg was in a cast, and his muscle were aching from trying to fight the bear. Balto wanted to try and get a look of his surroundings, but he was hurting too much, so all he got was a glance at was was infront of him, he was istaring at what looked like the inside o a shed, the wolfdog decided it was probably just best to just rest for the time being. Before going to sleep, he felt like something was wrapped around his neck.

_Three days earlier_

Rosy's family was currently sitting in the waiting room at the vets'. They had just got back from the picnic and bear attack. They were waiting for a certain wolfdog, which the father would normally chase off, but today was diffrent; the wolfdog had just risked his own life in orrder to protect them, so they thought the least they could do was take him to get his injuries looked at.

After what felt like days the parents were called in to hear about the wolfdog's condition, "is he goning to be alright sir?" Asked Rosy, "well, he;s still alivem but he might be unconious for a couple of days, his leg is broken, and he'll need a place to stay," answered the vet. Rosy's father was only slightly hesitant about letting the wolfdog stay in his home, bt he knew that he could trust his daughter's life in the paws of the hybrid.

After bringing Balto home, they put him in the shed on a very soft, large pillow. Jenna watched from a short distance away, she noticed while her owner's mother laid Balto on the pillow Rosy's father left the shed, and didn't go back in the house. She wanted to know where the man was going, but she was worried about her boyfriend's life, so she continued to sit outside the shed.

Tom walked out of shed inorder to go to the store, he decided todo something that would not only help reward the wolfdog, but also make his daughter happy. The thing he was something his daughter had asked for long before the wolfdog even tried to save their lives. In store he picked up several things, such as dog food, dog treats, and an extra dog bed, but the most important thing. After e paid for the items he headed home.

After arrivinng home he pt the very important item under everything else, and set t on the counter. Rosy came down to helpp ring the dog food and treats into the shed, while her father went and helped bring in the extra dog bed for Balto, "it's only temporary, Rosy," stated the father as he put down th dogbed and put the hybrid on it. After they wer done Tom made sure Rosy was in her room before taking out a collar with the name Balto carved into iit, and went into the shed to put it around the neck of its new owner.

He smiled when he heard Rosy's reaction to the adopton of the once stray wolfdog. She was never happier.

**_Hoped y'all liked it. Imma go sleep since this took me all week to piece together._**


	4. Chapter 3

**_Alright, what's up guys? Sorry for the slow updates once again, but uring the wait time, a writer that I am actually a ig fan of has gien me some tips such ach better detail, bringing the reader into the character's perspective, and proof reading, thank you Steelfan for giving me criticism, which I genuinely want and need, so I may improve as a writer, while I wasn't writing this chapter, I was practicing on some of the things you told me about, hopefully this is an improvement(hopefully). _**

**_Oh yeah, since technically the sled race at the beginning of the movie itself wasn't involved with diptheria at all, I might reference it here._**

The first thing Balto had ever seen when he opened hs eyes was a blurry blob, which seemed, and the first thing he felt was a hand petting him. Balto has been out for most of the day. The hybrid closed and reopened them until his eyes were no longer blurry. The hybrid also remembered something was wrapped around his neck, the wolfdog looked down, and noticed a collar around his neck, he then looked over to what was once the blurry figure, it was Rosy. The young child had always been quite nice to him, once even offering to let him pull her sled before the girl's father chased the wolfdog away. It took Balto also felt pain near his leg, obviously his leg was still heavily injured from him fighting the bear, and Balto probably would've done it again, since he simply wouldn't live with himself if he just sat and watch the bear maul not only his favorite human, but also his girlfriend.

Jenna and her friend, Dixie, were currently walking around the town. Once while on their way down one of the streets, amale dog tried rnning up to meet them, but was on a leash. Dixie was going on and on about Steele, "what do you think Jenna?" Asked t small show-dog, "well, he's great and all, but he's not my bowl of water," responeded Jenna, in all truth she wasn't even listening to them, as her mind was on her Boyfriend, he's been out cold for an entire day. After the two had their farewells, Jenna turned around, and headed home,while the husy thoughts of the hybrid continued on.

(Two weeks later)

Balto was currently relearning how to walk, but right now, he was just crawling around the backyard. Rosy and her parents were watching as Balto kept crawling around, "okay Balto, now I want you to stand up," said Jenna. The hybrid tried standing up, his legs were weak from not being used for at least a week, so when he finally got on his paws his legs were shaking a tiny bit, Balto stumbled with every singe step, but thankfully Jenna was there to catch him if he were to fall, "now keep doing this until you can walk, then we can see if we can get you up and running."

(Three days later)

Balto had done what the love of his life told him to do, first crawling, then getting up, and then trying to walk around for at least 10 minutes each day. Despite how simple it is, he was able to do a limp across the backyard for extended periods of time. He wasn''t sure if he could be as nimble or agile as he was a month ago, he was still happy Rosy wouldn't have to carry him around like an 8 week old pup. Eventually after limping around the backyard for hours, the su started to set. Balto limped into the home, inscinctively got ready to run when Rosy's father approached him, but the man simply leaned over and patted him on the head. After the hybrid lapped from the water dish, he went over to his dog bed, which was next to Jenna's, and laid down. He swore he never slept better in his life.

**_Well, there's the chapter, about a hundred words shorter than usual, but hopefully I can get a chapter out tomorrow. Anyways, thanks for wasting your time on my silly little story._**


	5. Chapter 4

**_I said I was gonna get this chapter last time, so here it is. At some point this might actually become a collab with Steelefan(something I will be very happy about. Anyways, until then I will keep trying to get really good chapters out*hopefully( they're a joy to read as always, I'll go away now and present the chapter._**

Everyday for the last few weeks has been one of joy for for wolfdog, simply being able to live with his favorite human and a beautiful girlfriend was enough to keep his spirits up. Every second and every breath was never a waste in his eyes, but then he heard one word that mad chills go down his spine, one that would make him duck in alley ways, and would rather take a beating from Steele than anything else, vet. Today was Balto's first ever vet visit.

After the leash was hooked to his and Jrnna's collars, they were on their way, Jenna noticed Balto's somewhat fearful look in his eye, "Balto, there's nothing to worry about, it's just a check up," said the husky. Balto stopped looking completely terrified, but still looked as though he had the slightest bit of fear, not because they were closing in on the vets', but because he noticed Steele walking down the street. Thankfully, it didn't seem like the sled dog noticed him at all.

Inside the waitinng room was quite a boring place to be in for the dogs, while humans got things such as newspapers, or books, the dogs just sat and waited until their name was called, Balto looked up and down, left, and right. Not one thing to do, as he was still in the confines of his new owners' leash. Rosy sat on the floor and petted Jenna's head, "Jenna," called a vet, "and bring in Balto as well,"

Jenna's check up was very quick, just a few shots, "she seems to be carrying pups," said the vet. The vets' then carried Balto onto the table Balto, as he had to get all of his shots in order to get to catch up with other dogs his age. In between every shot was whimper escaping the halfbreed's jaw, and with every shoot was a yelp, Balto even tried to run out of the rom, but the door was closed shut

**_Several days later_**

Balto and Jenna were let out to do their buisness, "but what should we name them?" Askd Balto, the two then snuck through a crack in the fence, and started to stroll down the roads of Nome, out of habbit Balto tried sneaking to sneak through an alley way to avoid who ever may chase him off, but Jenna bit his tail to keep him from running off. His old habbits would probably never die out.

Balto and Jenna were absolutely the happiest couple of dogs once they found out the stork would be coming soon. This day, while having its drawbacks, it still brought great news to the hybrid. He couldn't wait to be a father. The two mates couldn't have slept better with this knlowledge.

**Welp, there's the thingamajig. Have a good day.**

**PS:thank you guest for telling me about acccidently doubling a paragraph, it's been fixed now.**


	6. A fast little announcement

**_Hi guys, sorry for not updating in awhile, I decided to not post more chapters unril me and Steelefan edited all the already posted chapters, so that every chapter can be as good as possible, once all of the chapters are updated to my new standards, and Steelefan's standards, we will continue updating this again._**


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